Eric GershonLots of people like watching birds. Understandably, birds don’t always like people watching them. For the Audubon Center at Bent of the River, a 700-acre nature preserve in Southbury, Conn., this presented a problem: the swallows and kingfishers along a popular trail were perpetually startled by human visitors. Assistant Professor of Art Elijah Huge and the 11 students in his Architecture II class devised a solution – a chic bird blind they designed and built from scratch. The structure represents the third major design-build project for North Studio, a faculty-student design collaborative Huge founded in 2006 that is cultivating a…
Assistant Professor of Art Elijah Huge and 11 of his students have designed four proposals for a bird-viewing observatory for a 700-acre nature preserve in Southbury, Conn., and plan to build one by the end of April. It is the third major design-build project for North Studio, the faculty-student design collaborative Huge established in 2006. The students are all members of his Architecture II class. Previous North Studio projects have included a bird-viewing platform for an Audubon Society sanctuary in Portland, Conn., and a Sukkah, or temporary Jewish ritual structure, at Wesleyan. Audubon wildlife sanctuary Bent of the River is…
David PesciA discussion with Jeffrey Schiff, professor of art, on his new art installation, “Double Vision: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,” was recently featured on WNPR’s 'Where We Live.' “Double Vision” is on view in Wesleyan's Zilkha Gallery through Sunday, Feb. 27. Schiff speaks about his exhibit, inspired by the writings of the American Philosophical Society -a group which included Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and other early American luminaries.
This issue, we ask "5 Questions" of Elijah Huge, assistant professor of art. Huge returned to Wesleyan this fall after a sabbatical spent at the University of California-Berkeley. He teaches architecture. Q: What’s your favorite building, or group of buildings, at Wesleyan, and why? A: There are a number of outstanding buildings on campus, but my favorite group of buildings is the Center for the Arts, without question. The CFA is invested with a highly refined and clearly articulated architectural identity and reflects an amazing level of cultural ambition on the part of the university. On the one hand, the buildings…
Wesleyan’s architecture design class and its Research-Design-Build Studio have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 2010 Small Projects Practitioners Awards. They were recognized for the observation platform “SplitFrame” they created for the Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary in Portland, Conn., in 2008. The studio and class are overseen by Elijah Huge, assistant professor of art, assistant professor of environmental studies. Last year the class and studio created the Sukkah on campus as one of their projects.
Olivia DrakeNorman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literature, translated Jean de La Fontaine's poems in La Fontaine's Bawdy, Revised Edition: Of Libertines, Louts, and Lechers. The 273-page book was published by Black Widow Press/Commonwealth Books, Inc. in Boston, Mass. on Jan. 16. David Schorr, professor of art, illustrated the book. The Contes et nouvelles en vers of Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) were published at various times throughout his life, often these works threatened to get him in trouble with both Church and Academie. This translation covers the entire corpus in all their variety. The mildly suggestive mingle with the frankly bawdy…
David Schorr, professor of art, and Keiji Shinohara, artist-in-residence of art and East Asian studies, are showing their artwork at the DFN Gallery, 64 East 79th Street in New York, N.Y. Their work is featured in an exhibit titled "Looks Good on Paper," which runs through March 6. Schorr has been a faculty member at Wesleyan since 1971 where he has taught printmaking, drawing, typography, book design, graphic design and calligraphy. Fifteen years ago he turned to canvas for a series of paintings about AIDS and early death so he could layer the backgrounds, dissolving the figures in the ether…
On Oct. 10, 1741, Mr. William Bartlit was laid to rest in the Vine/Washington Street Cemetery near Wesleyan University. According to his gravestone, Bartlit was "aged about 70 years" and was "the first interred in this yard." "Mr. Bartlit has the oldest marker in this cemetery," says Elizabeth Milroy, director of the Art History Program and professor of art history and American studies at Wesleyan University. "We would like to find out more about him." Milroy, who is teaching the Service Learning Course AMST 205 "The Study of Material Culture: Marking the Past in Middletown," is assigning each of her…
Every October, Wesleyan's Jewish community dwells in a temporary structure built for the festival of Sukkot. For eight days, students study, socialize, mediate, eat, host events and occasionally sleep in the religious building. This holiday, the Jewish students will celebrate the Israelites 40-year journey to the Holy Land inside an airy, five-mound curving structure of carbon-steel clad in bamboo. Designed by 15 students enrolled in Architecture II, a research-design-build studio, the "WesSukkah" provides a sacred space that adheres to a complex, medieval Rabbinic building code. "The students have crafted something which is both compelling and meaningful for Wesleyan's campus," explains…
Nadja Aksamija, assistant professor of art history, received a grant for $13,500 from the Kress Foundation for her research on "Sala Bologna at the Vatican." Her grant, which was awarded May 1, spans for one and a half years.
Dante, Bolognese poetry, Leonardo and Quattrocento were among the topics addressed at the Art and History in Renaissance Italy Symposium May 1-2 on campus. The event was held in honor of John Paoletti, Kenan Professor of the Humanities, professor of art history, who is retiring in May. Paoletti is an internationally-prominent scholar in art history with much of his work focused on the Italian Renaissance. "This symposium is a unique one that honors John's 37 years of service to Wesleyan, and his foundational role in developing the university's program in Art History," says Joseph Siry, professor of art history. "The…
For 37 years, John Paoletti has explored the ideas and histories that produced both well-known and not so well-known works of Renaissance and modern art with thousands of Wesleyan students. This May, Paoletti will retire from Wesleyan's Art and Art History Department, ending a longtime career of teaching artists such as Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Donatello, and Michelangelo as well as the patronage of the Medici family. "I will really miss working with the Wesleyan students and faculty colleagues across the curriculum," Paoletti says from his office in the Davison Art Center. "Both have always been keenly critical of the…